Locked doors
by xXSakura-Hime-SamaXx
Summary: <html><head></head>AU. It doesn't matter if it's warm or cold, sunny or overcast, even if it's the dead of night. Bad things happen to good people, sometimes, it just can't be helped. But if you lock your door and cover your ears...maybe you'll last until help arrives.</html>


**Just a little something to try and get back in the swing of things.**

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><p>It wasn't a dark and stormy night.<p>

_Open the door._

It wasn't an overcast dreary day.

_Everything is fine._

There wasn't a chill in the air.

_Nothing bad will happen._

In fact, is was perfect outside. Warm sunshine, a clear sky, and a breeze that made you sigh in content.

Yet Sakura Haruno had never felt so horrified, so scared and vulnerable as yet another rattle came from behind her bedroom door. She'd been hauled up in her room for the past 17 hours, the noises and footsteps roaming her house making her flinch and muffle her shrieks behind her hands.

When she'd first heard the noise, she'd swallowed her fear and gone to investigate, her fists clenched and ready to swing.

She lived alone, noises like that shouldn't be happening. Naruto knew better than to sneak into her house by now- so it most definitely wasn't him.

The pinkette slowly edged down her hallway, her light blue nightgown brushing her knees as she peaked into each room she passed by.

No one.

There had been no one there.

Yet the hands that gripped her arms and_ dragged_ her to the ground felt as real as her own.

The claws that marked her skin as she screamed, that cut into her as she jerked away and bolted to the closest lockable door were like nothing she'd ever felt before.

And here she was now, locked in her room as she tried to muffle her cries of fear as her door handle rattled softly.

_Open the door._

Her phone was on her kitchen counter, her window firmly barred due to the slight crime rate her part of town had.

She was stuck.

Trapped.

_Let me in._

She didn't know what was out there, she didn't know what it was.

_Come out here with me._

She only knew it had hands, human hands, with claws that had torn through her skin like wet tissue paper. Long hair….it also had very long hair. She'd felt it brushing her skin, tickling her as it tried to drag her off.

She tentatively glanced to her scratched and cut arms, winching and looking away as soon as she did. At least they'd stopped bleeding, that was all she could hope for until she had something to actually treat the wounds with.

The warm afternoon sun beat down on her as birds chirped happily outside, another frightened sob and muffled scream escaping her as claws seemed to slowly drag down the hallway wall, trailing from her door to the stairwell.

The noise slowly faded, slowly died out to nothing.

Nothing.

_Let me in pretty one._

…No, it'd be stupid to open the door now. She'd seen enough horror movies with Naruto to know that it was a bad idea to leave her room yet.

She wasn't going to risk it.

So she sat there, huddled up in the corner of her bed, her back against the wall as the sun tried to warm her body.

_Be calm…_

Slowly, her terror died down.

Slowly, her sobs stopped.

No noise.

No footsteps.

Nothing.

Her breathing evened out and her tears stopped eventually.

It'd been hours since anything had last happened.

Hours….Days…

_Look at me._

How long had she been in here again?

The pinkette didn't know, all she knew was that if she waited long enough, Naruto would eventually turn up and help her.

Naruto…Naruto would help her.

He always would.

Her legs hurt as she unravelled them, her toes digging into her plush carpet tentatively.

Nothing.

_Come pretty one._

Her next foot followed slowly, her body raising as her bed let out a soft creak.

_Open the door._

It could still be out there….

One step.

Nothing.

Two.

_Closer._

Still nothing.

_Come closer._

Three.

_Yes…_

Sakura swallowed as a shiver of fear ran down her spine, her breath catching in her throat as she eyed the door handle with suspicion.

_Open it…_

No…she….it was a bad idea.

_Open it._

Four steps across her room and her feet met the cold wood of her floor.

_Let me in._

Her arm slowly stretched out before her, her fingers grazing the cold metal as she shook.

_Pretty one…_

No.

No, opening it would be stupid.

A very bad idea.

_So soft…_

Slowly lowering to her knees, the pinkette felt the warm sun touch her bare shoulders, warming her back as the birds continued with their happy tune.

_So beautiful…_

Her body slowly lowered to the floor next, her front flush against the ground before her door.

_Closer…_

Her eyes slowly peered through the gap beneath her door, eyeing the empty hall for a moment.

_See me._

A flash of sharp teeth in a twisted grin.

Black and red eyes- so red…

A face peering back at her.

_Don't move._

Her pupils constricting to pinpoints as her face drained of colour in a flash, Sakura let out a scream, her body frozen in place as the man-the monster watched her unblinkingly.

_Shhhhh, be silent…._

Her voice caught in her throat suddenly, her terror filled eyes never leaving the monster as one of his hands came into view, beckoning her forward.

_Closer…._

Her terror filled mind demanded that she run, that she escape.

_Let me in…_

Her body flush with adrenaline, she quickly rose from the floor and gripped the door handle, intent on making a run for it.

She could do it.

She was in no way unfit, she could at the very least make it by him and get outside.

_Open the door…_

Outside meant help.

Help meant safety-meant Naruto.

_Open the door._

And she wanted to be safe so badly it hurt.

She needed to get to Naruto, Naruto _always_ knew what to do.

She needed to…

She needed to-

_**Open the door.**_

_**She needed to open the door.**_

One hand twisting the lock undone, she ripped the door open in a rush, very ready to beat the hell out of who-or what-ever was blocking her escape.

_Pretty one…_

Nothing.

Arms wrapped around her middle from behind.

A cold body flush against her back, towering over her as she stilled.

Hair, long and black, fell over her shoulders as a frozen breath lapped at her neck, slowly moving up to her ear.

She could only just make out his grin from the corner of her eye.

Cold…

"_Boo_."

So cold…

"_I found you_…"

"…_pretty one_."

She…she knew that voice…

_Let's play a game…._

Knew it like her own, like a fond memory.

_Hide Sakura…_

Her…her old babysitter…the Uchiha.

_Lock the door…_

The one who went missing while watching over her one day….

_I won't let the monsters get to you…_

_Just lock the door and wait for your parents to get home._

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><p>Naruto frowned as he looked through his best friends belongings, trying to find something- some clue as to where she went or what happened to her.<p>

Everyone else may have given up, but he never would.

He could _never_ do that to Sakura-chan….

He'd taken what he though important from her home after her parents decided it time to auction it all off. The blond didn't know how they could do it, he still held onto every scrap of her presence he could.

It'd been…years…

Three actually, as of tomorrow.

Three years since he arrived at her home to take her to class. Three years since he'd found the doors all unlocked. Sakura never locked her doors…a bad habit he'd never been able to get her to break.

Three years since he'd sworn he saw her looking at him from her bedroom window.

He could still remember it as clear as day…

The look of fear in her eyes, her body being ripped back from view as she tried to reach down to him.

Naruto Uzumaki would never forget that moment, the moment he'd failed her. The one and only time he hadn't been there for his best friend…

His secret love…

A knock slowly sounded at his door, drawing his attention as he hurriedly packed her things away. He didn't want another lecture about 'letting the past go'.

Closing the large box with a sigh, the blond ran a hand through his hair and slowly made his way to the door, rolling his eyes as another set of drawn out thuds sounded.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming!"

The sun warmly rolled through his front windows, warming his home as he passed them by, peering through peephole to see who it was.

Probably Sasuke or Kiba- Or miss Haruno wondering where her daughters things were.

A flash of pink hair.

Green eyes looking up at him so sadly.

His breath caught in his throat, his eyes tearing up as she seemed to look straight at him.

_Don't open the door…._

"S…Sakura-chan?"

He didn't want to move…

What if he did, and this turned out to be all an illusion.

_Everything isn't fine._

She just…watched him.

Watched him through eyes so sad he felt like crying.

_Bad things will happen._

"Sakura?"

Slowly, one of her arms moved into view, the scratches on them breaking his heart all over again. He'd seen them before, on her arm as she reached out to him last time. Her hand slowly touched the door and she smiled, so warmly that he could practically feel her pulling him into that long awaited hug.

Suddenly a loud beep came from his right, his head snapping in that direction as he looked through his front window.

"OI NARUTO! HURRY YOUR ASS UP WE NEED TO GET GOING ALREADY!"

Kiba…

That's right, they were going to see the others tonight.

But couldn't he see Sakura too? She was in plain view of the street!

Turning back and peering through again, he was met with nothing but thin air.

Nothing.

She was gone, _just like last time._

Another loud beep of Kiba's car horn and Naruto scowled to himself, angry tears in his eyes as he punched the wall to his left in frustration.

It wasn't fair.

What did he do to deserve this kind of taunting?

Wasn't losing her once enough?

_Let me in…_

_Naruto…_

_Please let me inside…_

…

_Please?_


End file.
